Well hello again friends! It’s been a bit, but Aaron and I have both still be training hard as ever in our basement. I’d like to let you know a few improvements I’ve seen in Aaron’s physique and training since we started:
- His shoulders are starting to pull back into better positioning due to stretching out his chest, strengthening his mid-back, and reinforcing good posture/positioning on EVERY movement
- His squat-style movements have gained great strength and coordination, which has translated to better running times
- He’s gained substantial muscle mass, especially in his legs and back
If you’ll remember from my last post, one of his goals was a 225 lb bench. But for the bulk of quarantine, we didn’t have a squat rack, or any real form of doing any sort of bench work. So, how did we prepare him for this goal (we did have a squat rack incoming)?
- Tempo push ups, moving from body weight to weighted
- Floor press, with a pause – teaching control and making the pause feel more natural
- Modified height pendlay rows with a slight pause at the top – this will translate to pausing a bench press but NOT losing tightness
Most importantly, I’ve learned how to work with Aaron to help him achieve his goals. Every athlete is different in their mentality, what drives them, and what will halt them in their tracks. So, here’s a few keys I’ve learned about him as an athlete:
- Failure is not a reasonable rep range. Give him a number, and ask him to beat it on each set.
- Include elements that he enjoys. That means arms on leg days, and sometimes ‘cardio breaks’ during longer sessions.
- Things can be tough, but not brutal. RPE 8 is generally where we cap most exercises, unless we’re going for as many reps as possible.
- Pick 4 exercises, the best bang for your buck, and prioritize those, with extra added on to the end if energy is still present.
Not everything he wants to do in his programming is ‘ideal’ from a physical and training standpoint. Cardio breaks takes energy from large compound movements. Arms on leg day diverts attention and energy away from lower body that we’re prioritizing. That being said, there’s an element to this that’s very important: his buy-in, and his willingness to work hard BECAUSE those ‘rewards’ exist in his program.
In the short term, there may have been some negative effects of adding these things in, but the long-term has led to massive success in training, commitment to working hard each session, and better communication between him and I as a client and coach relationship. For someone that hated leg day when we started and now has not complained about it in 3 months, that’s a success story I’m happy to tell.